workin' for the weekend

i get memorial day off! whoaaa, i'll actually have a weekend. i have absolutely nothing planned and i couldn't be more excited to just chill out. (and run some too of course.) they are also shifting the work hours post-memorial day so that we start the day at 6:30 instead of 7. i'm not quite sure if i will be sliding my morning-run routine with that as well, as i would then have to be waking up while the clock says 3:xx. believe it or not, that's just not giving me any warm fuzzy feelings right now.

watching the sunrise at work

on monday i ran outside at a local park that has just over a 2-mile, very hilly loop. it also has about 8 feet of shade along the entire loop. (not kidding.) it was nice though - i ran past open fields, cows, horses, barns, a skateboard park, pool with big water slides, baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball courts, sand volleyball courts and a neighborhood. i think that covers it all. i know i need to reacquaint myself to hills after my 5-6 week treadmill/flat river-valley running. surprisingly, i handled all the ups and downs pretty well - my hr and pace were in the right zone for an easy run.

monday (5/18) pm run: 6.21 miles, 53:52 (avg pace 8:40), avg hr (159)

i finally figured out a route through "downtown" that i thought would be decent and jumpstart me to exploring the area, but it turned out i picked the predominantly ghetto side of town. i ran it anyway, and found a trail that went out around a pond. i quickly discovered it was quite overgrown, and since it was near a 'hood area i decided not to explore it. instead, i crossed a wooden bridge over the "pond" (/dried up, super stinky marsh-like) and prayed the bridge would not collapse under me. the pond smelled terrible. the run had some hills as well, but much less intense than the park.

tuesday (5/19) pm run: 5 miles, 42:41 (avg pace 8:32), avg hr (158)

wednesday and today (thursday) i ran in the morning on the treadmill because i knew i would not have time for an afternoon/evening run outside. my legs were tired and heavy for wednesday's run but i'm assuming it was just from running tuesday evening.

wednesday (5/20) am run: 4 miles, 35:12 (avg pace 8:48)
thursday (5/21) am run: 3 miles, 25:37 (avg pace 8:32)

while i hate having my run loom over me all day, it's been nice to get outside for a few runs this week after work. if only my legs could adjust quicker to running in the evening one day and in the early morning the next...

happy and safe memorial day weekend to all!